Bad day on the beach

Making Malta more attractive to the tourist has become common talk both in the media and in several fora.

However, when one puts aside all the good intentions and technical expert advice and gets to the nitty gritty of the subject, one realises that this debate tends to give the impression that we are missing the wood for the trees. The reason is that we often aim at the purely technical aspect but neglect the basics.

Take Golden Bay on a typical fine day (Sette Giugno), full of people seeking to enjoy their first day on the beach. It's unbelievable in what state the beach was. A solid thick column of seaweed was strung across the length of the beach.

I thought it's fine to have entrepreneurs who embark on mega projects such as the marvellous five-star deluxe hotel in the area, only to be outdone by the lack of the most fundamental requirements such as keeping the underlying beach fit for enjoyment. What happened to beach cleaning? The huge amount of seaweed made access to the sea a loathsome proposition.

Is it possible that with all their good intentions the authorities are out of touch with such basic needs? Similar situations will only make the man in the street feel frustrated. On the one hand the citizen is being continuously bombarded by slogans and ceremonious speeches, resulting in a very low credibility rating.

On reaching this beach the poor, unsuspecting tourist is greeted by blokes wanting to sell boat rides to God knows where, the beach itself having been turned into a sort of promotional area strewn with many tiny boards advertising this business in every nook and cranny.

Added to this disgusting scenario a motley crew of no less than 15 guys aboard their jet skis decided to hit the beach all at one go. They revved at top steam as close to the beach as possible as they jostled among the disarmed swimmers. In no time the beach was engulfed in a huge cloud of toxic smoke making all present forget about the fresh healthy sea breeze. All this lasted for a good two hours.

When will we have beach wardens to protect the abiding citizen from similar obscenities? It's no use spending millions of liri on promotional stunts unless we start from the basics. These sorts of antics will only make us the laughing stock of every decent tourist. How can Malta ever make it in the face of all these odds? When shall we get our priorities right?